


A Mask of My Disguise

by FeelsGoodToBeUnholy (Trenchcoatsandconverse)



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, I'm so sorry, M/M, Trans Gerard Way, every one has issues, except frank lucky him, i still don't use tags right, lotsa other stuff, oh god this is so bad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-07-23 20:46:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7479342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trenchcoatsandconverse/pseuds/FeelsGoodToBeUnholy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you need to expect the unexpected. For example, Gerard didn't expect to be going to summer camp, or having to room with one of the hottest guys he's ever met, a crossdresser, and a boy with low self esteem and killer sideburns, but there he was. Sure, it was a bit scary. He had a lot to hide, and the only person who could help him (his little brother) seemed really occupied with making heart eyes at that Pete guy, but he just had to work with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is for Gabe. you're the best and i'm sorry i can't do your awesome ideas justice. 
> 
> also i hope whoever decides to reads this likes it thank you for joining me. :)

Gerard really didn't expect his summer to turn out this way. He really, really didn't.

 

Normally, he'd be going to comic book stores or watching shitty reality TV shows with Mikey, but the first indication that something would be different was that his mother had made them all eat dinner together, which never happened. 

 

The second was her announcement of a business trip, which, okay, not too bad.  
Maybe a general decrease in cooked meals and personal hygiene between the Way brothers, but that wasn't completely out of the norm if everybody was being completely honest.

 

The third, which was the real kicker, was their mother announcing that she'd signed them up for a summer camp. 

 

Specifically, an all boys summer camp in North Carolina. That the two of them would be at all summer. 

 

Which, no. 

 

Just no.

 

Because for one thing, he didn't want to spend his entire summer doing arts and crafts in the woods. 

 

Another reason why this was a bad idea was that North Carolina was a shitty state for people like himself, with its new bathroom laws and what not.

 

What if he had to use the airport bathroom or something and some self righteous asshole decided he looked too feminine to be in the men's room or whatever? (Which, lucky for him, he was fairly good at passing, so that had never actually been a problem before. but one could never know)

 

Then, there was the matter of it being a summer long, all boys sleep away camp, and he was a gay transboy.  
Which, news flash, teenaged boys normally didn't respond very well to anyone different, and he was fairly certain the status of being gay and trans fell pretty far on the difference spectrum. 

 

He'd, of course, brought up all of these points on his impromptu list of reasons why the summer camp thing was a terrible idea and it should not be done under any circumstances. 

 

His mother waved him off with a flippant answer of how 'it would be fine, sweetie. I'll make sure you'll be taken care of.'

 

No. No. He didn't know what that entailed, but he probably wouldn't like it. 

 

He was surprised Mikey wasn't backing him up, or at least protesting a bit more, but he just seemed kind of resigned to the inevitable desolate wasteland of a summer that they were being sentenced to.

 

About a week later, his mother was driving them up some questionably safe mountain road in a (admittedly nice smelling) rental car and chattering to Mikey about the camp activities that they'd probably be forced to participate in.

 

Gerard was mad at her for inflicting this onto him, so he was staring sullenly out the window with his headphones on. 

 

Eventually, the endless trees gave way to a brightly painted front gate and a line of cars. Two older guys, probably counsellors, stood there holding clipboards. 

 

When their car finally reached them, one (with an absolutely amazing head of hair, no exaggeration, it was a modern marvel) approached them with a big smile on his face. 

 

Gerard's mom rolled her window down and he began talking. 

 

"Hey! I'm Ray Toro, I'm one of the counsellors. Names, please?"

 

His mom smiled at the guy (who had to be only a couple years older than Gerard) and answered, "Gerard and Mikey Way." 

 

He flipped through his clipboard before he apparently found what he was looking for and glanced back up at them. 

 

"Okay, Gerard is in cabin two, Mikey is in cabin three, try to remember that, and drive along the road until you get to the dining hall, because that's where check in is. After check in, go up to the cabins to get settled in and what not, and you'll be set! If you have any questions, feel free to ask somebody!" Ray told them quickly.

 

"Thank you!" Gerard's mother called out. 

 

"No problem," Ray replied, and walked on to the next car in line, leaving them to attempt to follow the directions he'd given them. 

 

As they drove off down the road, what Ray had told them clicked in Gerard's head. 

 

"Wait, what?" he snapped, drawing his mother and Mikey's attention towards him. 

 

"What?" Mikey asked. 

 

"They said we'll be in separate cabins. That can't be right, though. I can't be without Mikey, he's the only person who knows about... me." 

 

Donna clicked her tongue from the front seat. "You'll be fine. The other boys won't know a thing unless you tell them, and if anybody gives you a hard time I'm sure your brother will set them straight. And if not, go to a counsellor and they'll take care of it. Everything will be alright." 

 

Gerard was in full on worry mode, though, and that reassurance did nothing to calm him down. 

 

They pulled up as close as they could to what had to be the dining hall, as there were people milling about all over the place. 

 

His mother turned off the car an got out, but Gerard sat in place, sulking. Mikey hesitated before getting out. "It'll be okay, Gee. And if anyone even thinks about fucking with you, I'll throw them into the lake." 

 

Gerard smiled weakly at his brother as he got out of the car. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, before following suit. 

 

The check in process was quick, albeit boring, with him and Mikey just standing behind their mother as she answered questions and filled things out. 

 

She ended up getting stuck filling out a form, and the two boys just got sent along to the nurse for a lice check by themselves. 

 

After they were put in the clear (obviously, Gerard was pretty sure his hair was uninhabitable for any form of life, lice or not), the old woman gave them a friendly smile. 

 

"So, since you're all done here, you can go set up your things and get ready for the swim test." 

 

Gerard's stomach dropped.

 

"Um, swim test?" He asked, horror creeping into his chest. 

 

He couldn't do that, then everyone would know, and everything would be ruined. Oh, shit. Shit shit shit shit-

 

"Gerard can't do that for, uh... medical reasons. Our mom can talk to you? Mom, can you come here real quick?" Mikey's calm voice cut through Gerard's panic, and he gave Gerard's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. 

 

"Oh, so he's Gerard, then. That's fine, he can just go up to his cabin and settle in." 

 

Gerard gaped at her. "R-really?" he asked disbelievingly. 

 

She nodded, understanding in her eyes. "We don't want you to feel uncomfortable. Camp is about having fun, not being upset."

 

Mikey waved their mother off as she was approaching them, a concerned expression on her face. 

 

"We worked it out!" Mikey shouted over again. 

 

She gave them a thumbs up, and went back to the other station to continue filling out the form. 

 

Gerard felt extremely reassured about the next couple of months just from that one conversation. Maybe things would be fine, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so seriously thanks for reading oml i'm sorry i'm such a bad writer and let me know if you're interested in this??? thanks a ton and have an awesome day!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more characters and brendon urie's fishnets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooo how about i pretend that it hasnt been almost like a month since i've updated this and say that i hope you like the chapter? seriously though im super duper sorry thanks for bearing with me

Nobody had decided to mention that cabin two was on top of a fucking mountain.

 

Seriously, Gerard was only exaggerating a little. 

 

The pathway up to the cabin was probably the steepest thing he'd ever had the misfortune of having to walk up, and to make matters worse, he'd had to lug his own stuff up the hill with no help because his mother was watching Mikey take his swim test. 

 

Halfway up the cliff that passed for a walkway, he felt like he was going to die. He hadn't done this much exercise since... ever. 

 

Was he seriously going to have to go up and down this all summer?

 

He stopped for a second to catch his breath, and that's when someone spoke up from behind him.

"Need any help?" asked a guy's voice. 

 

Gerard looked back over his shoulder and saw a short guy with with longish, black hair standing there smiling at him.  
Fuck, he was hot.

 

Gerard stood there staring at him for a minute before the guy blinked at him and prompted, "Well?"

 

Gerard shook his head as if to clear it. "Yeah, uh, that would be great. Thanks," he answered. 

 

The guy shrugged. "No problem." 

 

He walked up and took one end of Gerard's suitcase, Gerard taking the other. 

 

"Where are you headed?" he asked. 

 

"Cabin two." 

 

At that, the guy's eyes lit up and he smiled. He had a really cute smile. "No shit, really? That's the cabin I'm in! We're gonna be roommates!" 

 

Gerard's eyes widened. Shit, okay, so hot guy was his cabin mate. No big deal. It wasn't like it was the end of the world. Except if he ended up smiling like that all the time, Gerard was pretty sure he was going to implode. Literally just, like, die. 

 

If he died because this guy was too hot, he totally blamed his mother. It would be her fault for sending her to the goddamn camp in the first place. 

 

"Um. Neat?" Gerard silently cursed himself and his awkwardness. The guy was going to think he was a total loser. 

 

"I know, right! I'm Frank, by the way." Gerard almost dropped the bag after a loose rock or something set him off balance, but he quickly righted himself. Fuck, why had he taken the end of the bag that had him walking up the fucking hill backwards? 

 

"Gerard," he introduced himself.

 

"Nice to meet you! Is this your first time at camp?"

 

Gerard nodded and looked back over his shoulder. Almost to the top. He could do it. 

 

Frank giggled. Who the fuck giggles, what the hell? 

 

Why was this guy so adorable? The universe must hate Gerard, this was so unfair.

 

"I should have known, I would have remembered seeing someone as pretty as you around here."

 

Gerard almost dropped the bag again for a completely different reason. Was Frank flirting with him? Shit, shit, shit. What was he supposed to do? Or say? 

 

He decided on completely ignoring it and focusing on small talk. Small talk was safe. Small talk wouldn't send Gerard tumbling down a mountain. 

 

"Uh, h-how many times have you been here?" he managed to force out. 

 

He felt like his face was on fire, and judging by the way Frank was smirking, it was as red as he felt like it was. Great.

 

"I've been coming since I was a little kid. It's like a home away from home by now."

 

Gerard nodded. "That must be nice. Are you from around here?" 

 

Good question. Not too awkward. He could do this. 

 

Frank shook his head, a proud smile gracing his lips. "Nah, I'm from Jersey." 

 

Gerard raised his eyebrows. "Really? Me too!"

 

Frank smiled. "Oh, that's awesome! It's like, we were meant to meet. It's destiny!"

 

Gerard managed to not almost die that time, but that was mostly because they were now on (relatively) flat ground. 

 

Somehow, they ended up at the right cabin and got Gerard's suitcause (what the fuck had his mom even put in there, bricks?) up the stairs. They dropped the bag next to a bare bed, all of the other ones having either sheets or sleeping bags on them. 

 

After kicking it under his bed, he glanced around the cabin, dutifully ignoring the way Frank was staring at him. 

 

There was a guy with bright pink lipstick and winged eyeliner lounging on the bed next to his. He was wearing a skirt that was almost the same colour pink as his lipstick over fishnets, which, okay, that was pretty cool. 

 

He seemed pretty cool.

 

He noticed Gerard looking at him and sat up, smiling widely. "Hi, you're the new guy! I'm Brendon!" 

 

Frank walked over to a bed with black sheets and plopped down on it. "Brendon's a bit of a dick and will probably spend the entire time here making YouTube videos and staring at Ryan, but other than that he's pretty okay." 

 

Still smiling, Brendon tossed back, "Fuck off, Iero. At least I'm getting laid." 

 

Frank wrinkled his nose. "Not in this cabin, you're not."

 

Brendon lied back down on the bed, grabbing a discarded gossip magazine that was on the floor. "You're such a party pooper. Anyway, welcome to camp, Gerard."

 

Gerard blinked at him. "Uh, thanks." The cabin doors swung open and a short, kind of chubby guy with a backpack (and, honestly fantastic sideburns) walked in. 

 

He went over to a bed with a plain grey sleeping bag and dropped the backpack on it, making a thumping noise that indicated that it was probably heavy as hell. How the tiny guy had managed to get carry it all the way up the hill, Gerard didn't know. 

 

He didn't seem to notice Gerard at first, but when he did he gave him a kind of nervous smile. "Uh, hi. I'm Patrick." 

 

Gerard smiled back at him. "Gerard. That's, uh. My name." 

 

Patrick nodded, but if he was going to say anything else, it was interrupted by a dripping wet Mikey wrapped in a towel walking in. 

 

He paid no attention to the three other guys in the cabin, his eyes immediately landing on Gerard. 

 

"Come on, asshole. Help me bring my stuff up."

 

Gerard rolled his eyes. "Dude, I just got up here." 

 

Mikey shrugged. "Oh well. You'll be back up here again soon anyway, just carrying my stuff." 

 

Gerard groaned, irritated, but got up anyway and walked towards the door. 

 

Time to make the climb up and down the hill (more like cliff), he supposed.

 

On his way out, he reached out a hand to mess up Mikey's hair, causing him to make an outraged shrieking noise. 

 

Gerard smiled to himself as he left the cabin, Mikey following close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant apologise enough for how long this took seriously thank you so much for bearing with me i really hoped you liked it?? thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, have a good weekend!


End file.
